Wrassle-mania!

 The kittens are 2 weeks old today and in the last 30 minutes they realized they are Kittens and not larval cats and are roiling about in the nestbox.  

wrasslin'

Kaweco is looking up and wondering if there is life outside the nestbox

everbody rumble!

The kitten cam is still running great (as you can see).  It is still free to watch but contributions are welcome as food and litter is still being stockpiled, and vet trips will be upcoming!

The Kittening!

It's been a rough year. Unexpected expenses, job insecurity, housing insecurity, deaths in the family; 2022 has not been kind to the Picky household. But I think we have turned a corner now in August and there is room in my heart to help a little family. 

Please meet Katie and the kittens!  

 There is more on the new "kitten cam" page (see header).  I wish I had this tech when the feral mamas were raising the garage kittens back in 2017-2018. But everything in its own time, I guess. I haven't tried knitting in there with them yet, they are just so fascinating to watch, but I might try today. 

Made of Fire

My little Ember girl is moving closer to her new home.  Her travel crate came yesterday and she has a vet appointment next week for shots & things.  She's a jerk but I love her.

Cinder and the Embers

At long last, the final feral kitten from last year has been trapped.  She and her 4 tiny babies are ensconced in the bathroom, more or less happily.

Growing Like Weeds

Fast Forward

Clearly I am not going to post each day, so here is an update on the state of things in kitten land. The girls are growing fast and very independent.   Cinder (the last sister) had 4 kittens in the garage a couple weeks ago. One disappeared and I pulled the other 3 for fear she had abandoned them. Luna took them in and they are doing great.

Luna and all 6 kittens

Elizabeth

Kitten Season

One of the 4 kittens born last May had her own kittens at the end of April.  It took a bit of finagaling to catch the family, but they have been safely ensconced in my bathroom for about 10 days.

straight outta the garage est. 5 days old

Hello Mama Kitty (Luna)

Reunited! 7 days

8 days and wobbling everywhere

Crate, sweet crate

Offered Belly, Hidden Switchblades

Titania has grown and grown into a sleek youthful kitty.  Two of her sisters are in the bathroom but caght at 6 weeks is not the same as caught at 4 months.

I'm Getting Better

The fond memories are starting to outweigh the experience at the vet.

2007

2008

2009

2009

2011

Grief

His ashes are on my desk but his little face is still in my mind's eye.

My Sweet Boy

3 /1999 - 7/2016

Tour de Fleece 2016

Saturday marked the start of the Tour and I am in again for another spin.  No specific coherent goal this year, so far I am collecting bits of things that are half started or in the "must spin now" queue from last year.

Stage 1 - .25 oz spun, merino / tencel
Stage 2 - .25 oz spun, merino / tencel. Plied 175 yd

175 yd, .5 oz

In other news I went to a 90s party Friday and it was super fun.  Broke out the Doc Marten's and the Black Market Flowers tee and was in my element.  Fuzzy navel wine coolers were the perfect addition; well, an acceptable substitute since the demise of Zima.

The zebra finches have been here a week now and are settling in.  Yesterday was bath day, today I saw some allopreening.  Thinking of calling them Flit and Swift but haven't figured out who is who yet.

Samah turned 2 on the third, she thinks that finch TV was her birthday present.   Tempest has been in the house 3 weeks (9 weeks old?) and is currently crossing the house by going from loom-top to loom-top.  I think she is on the lookout for breakfast.

6/24/2016

Snacktime

Galen and Bingo hope I am bringing food as soon as I put down the camera.

We had a yarn & beer meetup last week and it was a great time.  I aquired some destash yarn and a little new yarn.  I am on a real sock kick right now so I have to be well stocked.

This one is becoming socks right now.

The Spin of the Knitter

polwarth 3 ply

I've been spinning my fingers to the bone lately with some lovely stuff - organic polwarth dyed by Corgi Hill Farm.  Very easy to spin and lucious color to boot.  Above is 399 yards of 3 ply at about 12-14 w.p.i. / 5 oz.

polwarth

The plan is to use the green and the red / orange / green in a sweater together.  If I spin fast maybe I can knit it up during the Iknitarod in March.  Two weeks for a sweater may be pushing it.

In other news, 16 year old Galen is going in for a dental tomorrow.  He passed his blood test but I am still a little worried for him making it through OK.  He helped me change the sheets tonight and is snuggled up on the bed right now... I'll go in soon to read and snuggle him thoroughly.

mommy's little helper

you called?

End of the Line

My first Camp Loopy project is done! It is pinned out on my bed, blocking and drying. First I gave it a good soak and rinse and put fresh sheets on the bed. Bingo is my self appointed sheet monitor, and made sure everything was ready for me to begin pinning out the damp shawl.

Drying as fast as the fan will go. It is very tiny, but very pretty. I could definitely make this again (in a larger size). I might even go wild and use the needles the pattern asks for!

Time to Reap

Watermelons and Wool.... this is the sunset colored merino I have been working on for a few months now at varous demos, photograped on a bed of watermelon leaves. I think I will enter it in the LA co fair.

Can you 'ear' me now? I promise I did not force the corn to grow this way!

The haul from the garden today. The corn was very tasty with a side of hot dogs and potato salad. It could have grown some more, but was sweet and fit exactly in the pot! Those tomatoes are about 3" deep in that container. I took lots of garden pictures but will settle for posting just this one. The sunflowers in the front are doing quite well; the goldfinches already check on their progress. Down the other side of the house is swiss chard, basil, a tomato, a larkspur and some coreopsis tinctora. I have flax to plant too, but no idea where to find the space! Here are the completed Uncloudy Day socks. I am always bewildered when the stripes come out so differently. The stitch count is identical. These might also get entered in the fair... the worst that can happen is that I waste $1 on the entry fee!

Loomacy.

The kittens love the loom. Mama cat (Carrie) is supervising and the gray kitten is hiding under the treadles.